University of New Mexico women’s soccer coach Kit Vela has earned College Sports Madness recognition as Mountain West Coach of the Year, the website announced Wednesday.
Vela has led the Lobos to a 10-5-2 record this season, with a 7-2-2 record in Mountain West play. UNM finished the regular season in third place in the conference with wins over the second- and first-place teams, Wyoming and San Diego State, in back-to-back games to finish the regular season.
The third-seeded Lobos defeated Boise State 2-1 in the first round of the MW Tournament on Tuesday and will face No. 2 seed Wyoming in the semifinals on Thursday at 5 p.m. in San Diego.
New Mexico has gone 9-2-2 in its last 13 games, won six of its last seven and four in a row. The team went undefeated on the road this season (4-0-1, not including neutral games) for the first time in school history.
Vela has guided the Lobos to double-digit victories in five of the last six seasons at UNM.
Lobo junior goalkeeper Cassie Ulrich, who on Tuesday earned All-MW second team honors in the conference postseason award, was named to CSM’s second team on Wednesday. Sophomore defender Brooke Webster joined Ulrich on the second team.
The UNM-Wyoming match will be streamed live. Click on the Live Video link on the Lobo TV tab on golobos.com. Stats are available at lobostats.com.